The
establishment of settlements in Utah took place in four stages. The
first stage, from 1847 to 1857, marked the founding of the north-south
line of settlements along the Wasatch Front and Wasatch Plateau to the
south, from Cache Valley on the Idaho border to Utah's Dixie on the
Arizona border. In addition to the settlement of the Salt Lake and Weber
valleys in 1847 and 1848, colonies were founded in Utah, Tooele, and
Sanpete valleys in 1849; in Box Elder, Pahvant, Juab, and Parowan valleys
in 1851; and in Cache Valley in 1856. Settlements in all of these "valleys,"
as early settlers called them, multiplied with additional immigration
throughout the 1850s.
The
first in this southward extending chain of settlements was Utah Valley,
immediately south of Salt Lake Valley, which was settled by thirty families
in the spring of 1849. Within a year the population had grown to 2,026
people, and the foundation had been laid for a settlement on each of
the eight streams in the valley. Later in 1849, fifty families were
called to settle Sanpete Valley, south of Utah Valley, where a nucleus
for many other settlements was also established.